Pac-10 football: Picks of the week

OREGON STATE (plus-10) at OREGON (Thursday): Largest spread since the Ducks were a 13-point heavy in ’05 (and covered easily). Home team has won 10 of the past 12. Best bet of the Pac-10 weekend might be the Civil War “over,” with that total sitting there at a paltry (for these offenses) 61. Gimme: Oregon State.

ARIZONA (plus-7) at USC: Trojans have struggled mightily against balanced offenses (Stanford and Oregon). Not sure Arizona has the ground attack to carve up the USC defense. Trojans have the past seven meetings, but the last two were both decided by a touchdown. Gimme: USC.

CAL (minus-7) at WASHINGTON: Latest weather forecast calls for partly sunny and mid-40s, which should help the Bears. But Huskies have been tough at home save for the Oregon game (and Cal plays nothing like Oregon). Gimme: Washington.

Straight-up winners: Oregon, USC and Cal.

Five-star special: I don’t like any of the options, frankly. But forced to take one, I’ll take the biggest underdog: OSU takes it to the wire in a Civil War worthy of the hype, the stakes and the rivalry.

So we wait … 11 hours and counting …

Will Oregon State exact revenge for last year’s loss? Will Oregon prove, for once and for all, that it’s the class of the conference?

Will the Rose Bowl be half green and yellow, or orange and black?

Will Jeremiah Masoli or Sean Canfield stake claim to being the all-league quarterback? Will Mike Riley or Chip Kelly do the same for coach of the year?

All I know is that I can’t wait for the game; I wish I were there; and I hope it lives up to the hype.

(Check back after the game for another Pac-10 bowl update.)

Last week: 2-2Season: 31-34-3Five-star special: 6-7

All picks against the spread.
Lines taken from the Mercury News.

OREGON STATE (plus-10) at OREGON (Thursday): Largest spread since the Ducks were a 13-point heavy in ’05 (and covered easily). Home team has won 10 of the past 12. Best bet of the Pac-10 weekend might be the Civil War “over,” with that total sitting there at a paltry (for these offenses) 61. Gimme: Oregon State.

ARIZONA (plus-7) at USC: Trojans have struggled mightily against balanced offenses (Stanford and Oregon). Not sure Arizona has the ground attack to carve up the USC defense. Trojans have the past seven meetings, but the last two were both decided by a touchdown. Gimme: USC.

CAL (minus-7) at WASHINGTON: Latest weather forecast calls for partly sunny and mid-40s, which should help the Bears. But Huskies have been tough at home save for the Oregon game (and Cal plays nothing like Oregon). Gimme: Washington.

Straight-up winners: Oregon, USC and Cal.

Five-star special: I don’t like any of the options, frankly. But forced to take one, I’ll take the biggest underdog: OSU takes it to the wire in a Civil War worthy of the hype, the stakes and the rivalry.